1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the cleaning of ducting and vent pipes and more particularly to an apparatus and method for cleaning ducting that uses any specifically configured brush connected to a rope that is detachably connected to a retrieval and deployment parachute. The brush must fit snugly into the duct and the parachute must have a deployed diameter sufficient to transit the duct with a rope attached.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for cleaning ducts are well known in the art. Recent catalog items include (a) a long, flat, Flexi-Hose™ designed to let one use a vacuum to clean deep down into a lint trap of a clothes dryer; and, (b) a four inch circular vent brush with a 10 foot long flexible handle to help a person clean dryer vent tubes and pipes part way to prevent dryer vent fires from lint that accumulates inside a dryer vent over time.
In 2002 Schaefer was issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,047 for a lint vacuum cleaner device for cleaning lint from lint traps of clothes dryers. In 1999 Wright received U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,160 for a method of removing lint from clothes dryers using a magnetically mountable hand held vacuum cleaner. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,354 Alonso et al invented an apparatus and method for cleaning and maintaining the interior dryer ducts. The apparatus is made up of a flexible shaft connected to a cleaning brush or tool. The flexible shaft is extended thru the duct using attached couplings that fit inside the duct to create a cleaning apparatus as long as needed, to extend throughout the length of the duct.
In July of 1996 Thompson received U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,478 for a suction wand attachment and scraping nozzle for vacuuming lint from dryers. Also in October of 1996, Berger et al received U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,069 for a uniquely configured lint cleaning brush for removing lint from an arcuate exhaust duct of a clothes dryer.
In 1995 Thacker et al according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,243 employed an umbrella shaped brush connected to a plunger controlled by an operator at the end of what may be a segmented suction hose. However, Groen et al in 1994 used a compressed air powered rotary driven duct cleaning brush with flexible overtly extended bristles for cleaning rectangular cross-section ducts according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,834.
Other prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,188 that discloses a device which fits inside the ductwork and discharges cleaning fluids under pressure onto the duct walls. This apparatus creates a considerable amount of fluid which must be evacuated by a vacuum exhaust pump.
The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,329 contains an outer hose, an inner hose, a turbine, and a brush. Thus, this apparatus is expensive to manufacture because of its many parts. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,685 contains a hose, a brush, a nozzle for dispensing cleaning fluids onto the duct walls, and a sponge. Here, again, large quantities of cleaning fluids must be disposed of, making the cleaning process awkward and time-consuming. The duct cleaning device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,310 contains two jets for loosening and removing debris attached to the duct. This device is complicated in its manufacture and requires the removal of large amounts of dirty fluid in the process of cleaning the ductwork.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,566 discloses a method of cleaning ducts by dragging a cleaning element through the ductwork by means of a dragline. This method employs a plurality of cleaning elements of varying sizes.
Devices having a shaft connected to a body configured with cleaning elements have long been used for cleaning internal tubes, ducts and chimneys. These devices are typically rotated as they are moved inside the tube, duct, or chimney, to be cleaned. However, differing types and uses of ducts have made these devices less desirable and in some situations unusable.
For example, recent advances in air conditioning and heating ducting, as well as other ducting systems, have led to the use of smaller diameter ducting as well as ducting with a thinner wall thickness. Since these ducts have smaller passageways than previous ducting, there is an increase in the chance of dirt and dust buildup, as well as an increased chance of becoming blocked. Further, since these ducts have thinner walls and are thus typically weaker, older cleaning devices may actually damage the ducts rather than clean. Thus, there is a need for a cleaning apparatus and method for cleaning and maintaining ducts that is not damaging.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use various forms of duct cleaning apparatuses, the provision of a simple and cost effective duct cleaning device and method of this invention is not contemplated. Nor does the prior art described above teach or suggest a simple, inexpensive, but effective apparatus for cleaning ductwork wherein a parachute means is used in conjunction with a safety retrieval line extended out of the exhaust outlet of the ductwork to guarantee deployment and retrieval.
A majority of the cleaning systems today are expensive truck mounted large capacity vacuum machines wherein a tube is partially extended into the duct from the outlet and sucked out using the vacuum until flow is achieved or improved and some debris removed. Smaller capacity vacuum systems are deployed inside a dwelling, at the dryer connection to the duct inlet, for example. A vacuuming tube is inserted part of the way into the duct at the inlet and vacuumed. With both approaches a middle section of the duct remains untouched by a cleaning brush.
The foregoing disadvantages are overcome by the novel duct cleaning apparatus of the present invention wherein a parachute means is added and used to guarantee cleaning of the entirety of the duct from the outlet to the inlet with an actual brush in contact with the sidewall as will be made apparent from the following description thereof.
Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident by the full description and specification of the preferred embodiment, to wit: